Image Credit: WireImage.com
Ed Harris is coming to series TV: The Abyss and Apollo 13 actor has signed on as the Big Bad in HBO’s Westworld reboot.
The four-time Oscar nominee’s character is called The Man in Black, and is described as “the distillation of pure villainy into one man.” He joins previously cast star — and fellow series television newcomer—Anthony Hopkins, along with Evan Rachel Wood, Jeffrey Wright, and Shannon Woodward.
The Warner Bros.-produced sci-fi pilot produced by J.J Abrams, Jerry Weintraub, and Bryan Burk updates Michael Crichton’s 1973 classic film about a theme park where androids fulfill dark human desires. Harris’ description might sound like he’s playing the Yul Brynner killer-cowboy robot role, but it seems like actor Rodrigo Santoro was tapped for that part—and online production rumors suggest The Man in Black is actually a human character who sadistically abuses the androids.
Harris will soon be seen the feature film Run All Night, starring opposite Liam Neeson and Joel Kinnaman. Harris won a Golden Globe and was nominated for an Emmy for his work in HBO’s Game Change. [Reply]
Originally Posted by bowener:
I think Maeve is in the present time, and is one of Arnold's originals possessing unique coding that aids the emergence of sentient thought. I think she is going to wreck the park. I think Dolores is Wyatt in the present (and has been part of a story loop all along... just 30 years ago). The Wyatt story is based on a real event (according to Ford when programming present day Teddy).
Rest of thoughts in spoiler.
Spoiler!
I think Dolores is Wyatt. I think she acted on her own to wipe out that picturesque town (30 years ago) either by her own actions (she gained sentience and realized they are all machines), and hence why she was shooting herself in the head before William stopped her, or at the behest of Arnold to stop Ford from doing something/making the machines into toys for entertainment instead of something bigger.
I think William/Dolores story is 30 years in the past, and that William is possibly the black hat played by Harris (present day). I think William's character arc is from good guy to bad guy, and that he found his true self inside the park, and it is the only place he can be himself. Outside the park he dives into his work/empire, but has become nearly robotic himself, alienating his family and mentally abusing them (true self is leaking out). I am curious what he does for a living. [In the first episode he says a big incident happened 30 years ago in the park btw]
When black hat and Dolores interact (when Dolores is in her farm girl loop in the early episodes) and she runs away, I don't think we have seen her since or we do, but she is stuck reliving the past until she shows up as Wyatt in the new story line created by Ford. Dolores will be the worthy adversary that our villain is seeking/deserves.
Something else that has bothered me, and so I looked online today, but flies. Present day has flies, and the past doesn't. Or it seems to be working that way. However, my subtitles still say "flies buzzing" even though there aren't any on screen.
I like your ideas but I don't think the show has to do multiple time periods to make it make sense. To me the only compelling reason to do multiple time periods is to make someone from the 'present' be the same character as someone from the 'past', like William-> the MiB. I'd rather they develop William into an interesting character on his own. I want to see them integrate everything and I don't think it would be all that hard. Dolores is obviously having flashbacks at the little town. It's the town Ford described in his own 'flashback' narrative. But the scene ended with them standing in front of the same steeple that older Ford looks at.
The fun thing is that there a bunch of scenes that can be interpreted in different ways. So far (and maybe I missed some) the Dolores flashbacks happen after they zoom in on her face and then spin around revealing a changed environment. I think those are events that happened well before she met William, and led up to her interacting with the MiB when he was a young man. I can see the fun though in the idea of William->MiB->Teddy is created to replace white hat William. I like the idea of some of the hosts' loops being built around events that happened in the past when they interacted with previous guests. [Reply]
Originally Posted by Bowser:
So another question -
Who were the people stalking up on MiB, Teddy, and Once Hot now Crazy Lady in the desert? Were those escaped hosts from Roman World and (Whatever Else) World? Hosts that have achieved sentience there come to free the hosts still trapped in Westworld? The big guy Teddy and MiB took down, there was a schematic for him on the wall of one of the working cubes earlier in the show....
(I ask because it looks like a Centurion pulling a sword as they close in on the three of them. A little out of place there, no?)
I thought they were set up to be Wyatt's fighters? I don't remember where I got that idea from though. [Reply]
Originally Posted by Bowser:
Ford is the original host that has achieved sentience. Maeve is the second one to get there with Dolores and Teddy not far behind.
None of it makes sense. All of it makes sense. Part of what makes this show so great.
To throw another wild one out there WestWorld is just a higher tech version of The Island and the hosts are for 'rich assholes' to take over by telepresence. The 'god' part of the bicameral mind is intended to be a paying customer. They tried it in the past and it was too chaotic so they have been working on these loops to limit what tele-customers can do but still keep it fun.
So I noticed something over the past few episodes. It seems that Maeve is always shot / stabbed in the same location every time she "dies". Lower left side of her abdomen is always where she gets fatally injured.
Anyone else notice that or am I off base here? Are her "deaths" part of some loop like her go to neck slash attacks? [Reply]
Originally Posted by KC_Lee:
So I noticed something over the past few episodes. It seems that Maeve is always shot / stabbed in the same location every time she "dies". Lower left side of her abdomen is always where she gets fatally injured.
Anyone else notice that or am I off base here? Are her "deaths" part of some loop like her go to neck slash attacks?
I never really thought about it, but doesn't she get choked to death at one point by the safe stealing guy? [Reply]
